A visit to the dermatologist

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PlacentiaSoccerMom · #1 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:36 pm

Emma had to have a nasty mole cut off her back for biopsy today. The doctor was excellent and specializes in pediatric dermatology and did a lot of numbing before she did the punch biopsy because we warned her that Emma has a low tolerance for pain.

After the doctor was finished, Emma asked her if she could have Botox too.

kayrharris · #2 Post by **kayrharris** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:33 pm

Isn't it nice to have a competent doctor that does such a good job? Hope the results turn out OK.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #3 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:02 pm

kayrharris wrote:Isn't it nice to have a competent doctor that does such a good job? Hope the results turn out OK.

Thank you.

I saw the dematologist's reaction when she saw the mole, and rather than shaving she did a punch biopsy, so I am working myself into a state of paranoia right now. We have to wait two weeks for the results.

Ritterskoop · #4 Post by **Ritterskoop** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:16 pm

Maybe it won't be two weeks.

I'd think if it's a mole it can't be too bad (it can be removed easily, I think).

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #5 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:48 pm

Ritterskoop wrote:Maybe it won't be two weeks.

I'd think if it's a mole it can't be too bad (it can be removed easily, I think).

It's already off. My moles have always been scraped off, but the dematologist wanted to do a punch biopsy so that she could get the tissue surrounding the mole.

SportsFan68 · #6 Post by **SportsFan68** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:01 pm

Chances are good all is well -- I hope so anyway.

I was terrified of a mole I had removed when I was a few years older than Emma, and it turned out to be a juvenile nevus. The doc said it was unusual but by no means unheard of in kids my age, for a regular non-raised mole to grow into a juvenile nevus all of a sudden.

I hope Emma's is something as innocuous as that.

silvercamaro · #7 Post by **silvercamaro** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:30 pm

The odds are good that it was just a big, ordinary mole that just didn't look the way ordinary moles are supposed to look. But, lets cut to the chase. If your biggest fear came true, and it proved to be a melanoma, there still is good news out there. That's one form of cancer for which medical research has made enormous strides with effective treatment, particularly if caught early. No matter how scary the word, the biggest inconvenience most likely would be that your daughter would be told to stay out of the sun, thoroughly messing up any prospective plans for tanning and poolside romance.

Melanoma has appeared in my family and been beaten down, with no recurrence in well over a decade. Jeff can give you all the medical information you would want, of course, but if I can offer you any insight or advice from ordinary been-there-done-that folks, I will be happy to tell you what I've observed.

mrkelley23 · #8 Post by **mrkelley23** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 4:32 am

Alec (my oldest) had the same thing done when he was about 8 or 9.

And if you think Emma's pain tolerance is low.....

peacock2121 · #9 Post by **peacock2121** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:31 am

Waiting for biopsys is no fun.

You have my empathy.

It is good that Emma had a joke to go for (the botox thing) in the face of fear.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #10 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:36 am

mrkelley23 wrote:Alec (my oldest) had the same thing done when he was about 8 or 9.

And if you think Emma's pain tolerance is low.....

The dematologist told Emma that boys were big babies when it came to removing moles. It made Emma feel a little better.

I was standing by Emma's face when they punched the mole out. She didn't even flinch. She had just worked herself up before going to the doctor unneccessarily.

She asked to see it/him when the doctor was done. Emma had named it Doug and asked if she could have Doug back after the biopsy was done. The doctor said no.

MarleysGh0st · #11 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:47 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote: She asked to see it/him when the doctor was done. Emma had named it Doug and asked if she could have Doug back after the biopsy was done. The doctor said no.

Not even in a little bottle of alcohol?

The doctor's being unfair. Doug is Emma's, after all!

marrymeflyfree · #12 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:56 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote: She asked to see it/him when the doctor was done. Emma had named it Doug and asked if she could have Doug back after the biopsy was done. The doctor said no.

I desperately wanted to keep my tonsils when I had them out at age 5. They were mine, afterall.

peacock2121 · #13 Post by **peacock2121** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:23 am

Is there some las about it?

Medical waste and all?

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #14 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:30 am

I was told that they have to save the mole and other stuff for 17 years.

Emma asked if she could have it in 17 years.

peacock2121 · #15 Post by **peacock2121** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:32 am

17 years?!?

Makes me laugh!

17 years?

wtf?

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #16 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:35 am

peacock2121 wrote:17 years?!?

Makes me laugh!

17 years?

wtf?

I know. It seems like a long time. Emma will be 29.

peacock2121 · #17 Post by **peacock2121** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:38 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:
peacock2121 wrote:17 years?!?

Makes me laugh!

17 years?

wtf?
I know. It seems like a long time. Emma will be 29.

also seems like a stoopid number.

ulysses5019 · #18 Post by **ulysses5019** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:49 am

also seems like a stoopid number.

Sorta like the 14 mph speed limit at Disneyland.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #19 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:31 am

ulysses5019 wrote:
also seems like a stoopid number.

Sorta like the 14 mph speed limit at Disneyland.

There's a speed limit at Disneyland?

MarleysGh0st · #20 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:42 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote: Emma asked if she could have it in 17 years.

And I can imagine Emma remembering to go back to the doctor's office 17 years from now to ask for it!

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #21 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:46 am

MarleysGh0st wrote:
PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote: Emma asked if she could have it in 17 years.
And I can imagine Emma remembering to go back to the doctor's office 17 years from now to ask for it!

She would too!

MarleysGh0st · #22 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:02 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:
MarleysGh0st wrote:
PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote: Emma asked if she could have it in 17 years.
And I can imagine Emma remembering to go back to the doctor's office 17 years from now to ask for it!
She would too!

OK, beast, record this reminder in your notebooks:

4/11/25: Ask Emma about Doug.

ghostjmf · #23 Post by **ghostjmf** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:13 am

They have to save it because dermatological diagnoses can be in dispute. Maybe in 17 years they'll have more-conclusive tests.

(I know someone who went through chemo for something that a later, post-chemo consult said wasn't ever cancer. Later consult was because this type of cancer, if it was cancer, is supposed to have a parent lesion with particular characteristics, & what they took off wasn't the parent. They looked all over, inside & out of the person, & couldn't find the parent. Better safe than sorry is the theory behind the chemo in this case.)

gsabc · #24 Post by **gsabc** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:19 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:
ulysses5019 wrote:
also seems like a stoopid number.

Sorta like the 14 mph speed limit at Disneyland.
There's a speed limit at Disneyland?

And I'll bet it's 14 because if it was 15, they'd have had to do upgrades on the roads and paths to get them to local highway code.

Governments always have odd numbers for legal purposes. Like the lengths of copyright and patent protection and how long drug companies have to maintain exclusivity on their product before the generic can be made.

hermillion · #25 Post by **hermillion** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:59 am

marrymeflyfree wrote:
PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote: She asked to see it/him when the doctor was done. Emma had named it Doug and asked if she could have Doug back after the biopsy was done. The doctor said no.
I desperately wanted to keep my tonsils when I had them out at age 5. They were mine, afterall.

#1 Son has one sister and 12 girl cousins. He is the youngest child in his generation, and frequently complained of being "girled to death!"

When he had his tonsils and adenoids removed at age 7, the Dr. gave him the offending tissues in a small, sealed vial. #1S kept said vial in the refrigerator, to be pulled out when the girls were driving him crazy. The shrill screams of his female relatives as he chased them away - vial in hand - still echo in my memory.